Southern RED to be operational this year

The CEO of the Electricity Control Board is positive that a regional electricity distributor for southern Namibia will still see the light this year.

COMING SOON: The ECB is still working on the establishment of the Southern Regional Electricity Distributor.
Photo: NAMPA

Consultations with municipalities in the south, the Electricity Control Board and the ministry of energy seem to indicate that the Southern Regional Electricity Distributor (Sored) may be established before the end of the year.

ECB CEO Foibe Namene told Namibian Sun that consultations were continuing and that the RED was close to reality.

“The Ministry of Mines and Energy and the Electricity Control Board are optimistic that Sored will be established and become operational this year,” said Namene.

According to him, the consultations have led to the establishment of a technical committee and a shareholders' committee to drive the establishment of Sored.

“These committees have been meeting on a monthly basis since 2017 and are expected to continue their meetings to achieve the abovementioned goal,” Namene said.

The establishment of the Southern RED came about as a result of an electricity distribution industry summit in 2014. The exit of the Southern Electrical Company (Selco) gave renewed impetus to the establishment of the regional distributor. Last year, Namene said: “The Southern RED will come into effect this year or early 2018 and this is very important to the EDI reform since the process had been ongoing for a very long time.”

Highlighting the advantages of regional electricity distributors, Namene said that REDs have been effective at refurbishing and replacing aged assets and managed to contain and reduce network losses.

“The REDs' contribution to the supply of electricity throughout Namibia has undoubtedly been a success,” said Namene.

“RED business operations are viable and shareholders receive dividends. For local authorities and regional councils it further means that they can be assured that their electricity functions are performed by a competent entity, with the capacity to provide good quality electricity services at required standards to their consumers.”

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